The mystery over Top Gun director Tony Scott’s death has taken a new twist after the British filmmaker’s widow told police her husband did not have brain cancer.

American TV and newspaper reports said Scott, 68, had committed suicide after being diagnosed with an inoperable tumour. But Los Angeles County Coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said last night: “The family of director Tony Scott, who died on Sunday after jumping off a Los Angeles bridge, was not aware that Scott had cancer.”

Celebrity website TMZ reported that Scott’s wife, Donna, who he married in 1994, claimed the cancer rumour was “absolutely false” and she did not know of any other serious illness.

It leaves the possibility that the director of films including Crimson Tide and Beverly Hills Cop II could have kept his illness from his wife and 12-year-old twin sons.

The mystery over Scott’s death after leaping from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Long Beach was all the more baffling as Scott had a number of big projects lined up — including a Top Gun sequel — and was said to be happy and content in his third marriage.

Scott left a “contact list” of people to be informed about his death in the Toyota Prius he abandoned before climbing a fence and hurling himself into the Pacific. Witnesses said his body hit the water just yards from a harbour cruise boat full of tourists.

There was also a note telling police he had left a suicide letter in his Los Angeles office.

An autopsy was carried out yesterday but results are being withheld pending further tests. TMZ reported that there was no trace of cancer.

The New York Post claimed that Scott killed himself to spare himself and his family from watching his slow, painful death, and that he had gone into hospital recently but told friends it was for a hip operation.

His brother Ridley, director of Alien and Gladiator, was seen in Los Angeles last night after arriving from London.

Among the latest stars to pay tribute to Scott was Denzel Washington, who appeared in several of his films, including Man On Fire. He said: “Tony Scott was a great director, a genuine friend, and it is unfathomable to think that he is now gone. He had a tremendous passion for life and for the art of film-making and was able to share this passion with all of us through his cinematic brilliance.” Tom Cruise called Scott “a creative visionary whose mark on film is immeasurable”. His Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer said Scott was the “kindest” director he had ever worked for.